December 2025 General Games Discussion

[Johnway]

Went back to path of exile one more time after sleeping on it. i saw that there was a few things i could do to make things easier to complete the Tier 17 maps and i figured that it would be a bit of waste of effort (not to mention all the resources) not to try some things. But yes after several attempts i was successful. Admittedly it was luck. i found a weaker t17 map which had one or 2 fewer modifiers and with a whole load of luck and googling i was successful.

Will i go back and do t17 maps ever again? hell no! they're tough! had i tried that when i was level 96 whilst leveling up i would have raged quit for good. Thankfully i only attempted it after just getting to level 97 so i had no exp to lose and was prepared to make a few more mistakes. Although the maps themselves are HIGHLY lucrative, i only splurged a lot of money and resources. Spent at least nearly 200 chaos orbs attempting it (i bought x4 maps at 30 each and i bought a load of other stuff for 50-100 choas orbs). but i had nearly 700+ chaos orbs and i kept selling lifeforce to soften the blow. So i'm alright for now.

So i will be now grinding maps with a vengeance. i can get 22 by tomorrow and the rest i need to just grind and grind as fast as i can.

 

[Zed Clampet]

@neogunhero one thing about Darktide I didn't mention is that the higher difficulties can present a level of insanity that Vermintide generally didn't reach. You can have dozens of specials at the same time. I accidentally dodged into a corner today and had five specials trap me, and those were just the specials that were near me when I dodged. I immediately pulled out my rocket launcher, but it's too slow to fire, and I went down.

We bought the new Hive character, and we're only at level 10 right now, so the going is pretty tough, although we only failed one mission today. We play just the two of us with two bots. The bots aren't bad. In fact, some things they do better than people. For one thing, they never pick up your ammo because they have infinite ammo. Also, they are nearly magical at reviving you if you need it. They'll wade into a fire filled with Ragers to revive you, and sometimes they even succeed. The bad part is that they really don't pull their weight in killing stuff, which makes things harder overall.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Darktide. I can't believe I'm just now getting this.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Darktide tips for playing Hive. First of all, don't play Hive if you take a lot of damage. He might as well be made of glass. But there are things you can do to help yourself if you get into trouble. Surrounded and your toughness shield is going away fast, take out your rocket launcher and fire it at your feet. Hive's rocket launcher is the most powerful weapon in the game by a long shot. You can't damage yourself, and the area blast will clear out every single enemy near you.

Along those same lines, when a teammate goes down, usually the reason is that they were just overwhelmed, surrounded on all sides, sometimes 3 or more enemies deep. Those enemies don't go away just because they downed you. They stand there and keep attacking you trying to kill you so you can't be revived. Unless you kill these guys, you aren't going to be able to revive your teammate. Just like you can't hurt yourself, and unlike the Vermintide games, you can't hurt your teammates. So whip that bad boy out, clear out the mob and revive your teammate.

 

[Pifanjr]

I'm getting annoyed with StoneBlock 4, the Minecraft modpack I've been playing. I finally reached tier 8 of my magic chickens, but it's become obvious that the late game for all of the mods is a lot less integrated than the early game.

The problem is that each mod uses common Minecraft resources for the early game, which means you get plenty of choice on how you want to acquire those, but they all have their own late game resources. And all of the late game recipes require multiple steps involving multiple machines, each of which require multiple steps and multiple machines to build themselves.

Maybe I just need to pick a different project instead of trying to do all this late-game stuff when I have barely started on most of the mods in the pack. On the other hand, my in-laws gave us some money to buy Christmas presents for ourselves and there are a couple very good deals on Steam right now...

 

[Zed Clampet]

On the other hand, my in-laws gave us some money to buy Christmas presents for ourselves and there are a couple very good deals on Steam right now...

My wife discovered the Steam sale last night. I doubt we'll be getting games for Christmas, but both Guido and I have birthdays in a couple of weeks, and I expect we'll get a game or two. I don't think she understands the scope of Steam's library. No idea how she's going to decide what to buy.

I downloaded Minecraft the other day with the plan to look at StoneBlock 4, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. My next step would be to find a nice resource pack because I don't really like the generic Minecraft graphics. It looks to me like the resource packs I used to use (other than the one that I made myself) can only be had with cash now.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Sometimes I wonder about Monster Train 2's balancing. Here is a picture of the second turn of the final boss battle (highest difficulty, Covenant 10). My units are on the left.

Notice how my units all have an "X" next to them? That means they are going to die. I'm getting my entire first row wiped on turn 2. Here's a picture from turn 3:

That's my hitter row. It's being wiped on turn 3.

I ended up surviving a few more rounds, but didn't win.

The possible solutions to this would be to give all your hitters "Quick" so that you get to attack first, and also to buff your front people to have a little more health, but there are very few units in the game, buffed or not, who could survive the second attack where they are doing 150 damage. I can only think of two units who could survive that, but neither of those units were in the clans I was using. And, Quick isn't always available.

 

[BeardyHat]

Sometimes I wonder about Monster Train 2's balancing. Here is a picture of the second turn of the final boss battle (highest difficulty, Covenant 10). My units are on the left.

Notice how my units all have an "X" next to them? That means they are going to die. I'm getting my entire first row wiped on turn 2. Here's a picture from turn 3:

That's my hitter row. It's being wiped on turn 3.

I ended up surviving a few more rounds, but didn't win.

The possible solutions to this would be to give all your hitters "Quick" so that you get to attack first, and also to buff your front people to have a little more health, but there are very few units in the game, buffed or not, who could survive the second attack where they are doing 150 damage. I can only think of two units who could survive that, but neither of those units were in the clans I was using. And, Quick isn't always available.

Just kind of the nature of Roguelikes, isn't it? I've had runs like this in Monster Train, but also the opposite where I'm just absolutely unstoppable. Been awhile since I played though.

I'm in the process of buying Grounded for my kids and myself so we can give it ago. Was hoping to do that this morning, but doesn't look like it's going to happen. I started a third Steam account last night and then bought Grounded and gifted it to it, then bought it again and gifted it to my Wife's account. But then I realized this is the perfect opportunity to start migrating my kids over to their own Steam accounts, so I started a fourth steam account. Unfortunately, trying to Friend the 4th and the Steam community is down, so I can't actually accept the invitation. Looks like Grounded will have to wait, I guess.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Just kind of the nature of Roguelikes, isn't it? I've had runs like this in Monster Train, but also the opposite where I'm just absolutely unstoppable. Been awhile since I played though.

I'm in the process of buying Grounded for my kids and myself so we can give it ago. Was hoping to do that this morning, but doesn't look like it's going to happen. I started a third Steam account last night and then bought Grounded and gifted it to it, then bought it again and gifted it to my Wife's account. But then I realized this is the perfect opportunity to start migrating my kids over to their own Steam accounts, so I started a fourth steam account. Unfortunately, trying to Friend the 4th and the Steam community is down, so I can't actually accept the invitation. Looks like Grounded will have to wait, I guess.

It wasn't really my type of survival game, but tons of people absolutely love it. Hope you all get to play and have a blast.

 

[Pifanjr]

My wife discovered the Steam sale last night. I doubt we'll be getting games for Christmas, but both Guido and I have birthdays in a couple of weeks, and I expect we'll get a game or two. I don't think she understands the scope of Steam's library. No idea how she's going to decide what to buy.

I downloaded Minecraft the other day with the plan to look at StoneBlock 4, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. My next step would be to find a nice resource pack because I don't really like the generic Minecraft graphics. It looks to me like the resource packs I used to use (other than the one that I made myself) can only be had with cash now.

Resource packs only cost money for the bedrock version I think. The bedrock version is better optimised than the Java version, but all of the (free) mods are made for Java.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Resource packs only cost money for the bedrock version I think. The bedrock version is better optimised than the Java version, but all of the (free) mods are made for Java.

I think the main one I used to use requires a Patreon sub. I can't even think of the name of the resource pack anymore. I went to a site that has them for download, and most of them weren't up-to-date, but I guess I wouldn't be playing an up-to-date version of Minecraft anyway. What I really want to do is make my own again. Could be fun with AI. I've forgotten several important things, though, like how to turn any tile into a seamless tile. I used to be able to do it by hand. Corel has a seamless tile maker but it's not as good.

 

[Pifanjr]

I have an online friend who I talk to infrequently (we're both bad at staying in touch) who messaged me today to wish me a merry Christmas. After a bit of talking he asked if I would mind giving me my PayPal because he tried gifting me a game but couldn't because Steam doesn't let you gift games if the regional pricing has a larger than 10% difference in price.

I agreed on the condition that I would gift him a game as well, so now I own Subnautica: Below Zero and I've learned of the existence of Heart of the Machine. I'm still not entirely sure what kind of game it is, but it sounds fascinating and I've added it to my wishlist.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I've learned of the existence of Heart of the Machine.

That's one of those games that I used to look at every sale and then not buy it. I may need to look at it again.

I really enjoyed Below Zero. I don't remember exactly, but seems like people used to complain that it wasn't as scary as Subnautica, but I didn't think Subnautica was scary, so it didn't bother me.

I played to the end of the content they had at the time, and for some reason I never went back to it. Now seems like a good time.

 

[Pifanjr]

I played a bit of Gauntlet today with my wife and two friends. Of course I decided to play as the most complicated character, the wizard, and while I did fairly well I'll need some more practice to not get overwhelmed when the screen gets filled with enemies.

That's one of those games that I used to look at every sale and then not buy it. I may need to look at it again.

I really enjoyed Below Zero. I don't remember exactly, but seems like people used to complain that it wasn't as scary as Subnautica, but I didn't think Subnautica was scary, so it didn't bother me.

I played to the end of the content they had at the time, and for some reason I never went back to it. Now seems like a good time.

I don't even really remember what the criticisms were for Below Zero, I just remember reading it wasn't as good, but it seems the general sentiment has shifted since then.

I do think Below Zero can't really capture the feeling of playing the first game because for me a lot of the impact of the first game came from going in blind and feeling kind of lost for a lot of the game, whereas the sequel will probably feel a lot more familiar.

 

[Zloth]

I finished Dragon's Dogma 2. I'm planning to play Mechwarrior: Clans next, but I need some non-action for a little while to 'clean the pallet.' I pulled up Endless Space 2 to see all the changes.

...and there are a couple very good deals on Steam right now...

A couple!?

Below Zero isn't as good as the first Subnautica, but that's not saying much. Below Zero is still well worth playing, IMHO. If the next game can be as good as BZ, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Zed Clampet]

*sigh* sometimes I'm exhausting. If you read the post about the basketball deckbuilder, you should know that I just went into the game and that there is a "simulate" button right next to the play button. I'm now assuming that I must have hit "simulate"

 

[Pifanjr]

Picking a different project to pursue in the StoneBlock 4 modpack for Minecraft worked great. And right at the end of my play session I actually managed to make the generator I'd been wanting to make, after defeating the fearsome Ender Chicken.

Although the Ender Chicken turned out to be rather less fearsome than I feared. I had gotten an insanely OP weapon as a random reward for one of the quests I completed this session and absolutely obliterated the Ender Chicken. And I haven't even upgraded the weapon yet.

Next project is to centralise my power generation. I can now set up a wireless power distribution system so I won't have to keep moving my generators around. After that I should centralise my storage, all of my chests are running out of space.

 

[Zloth]

Y'awl infected me with this talk of power generation and whatnot. I decided to try out Planet Crafters' demo and got hooked.

I managed to turn the sky blue, and I've got a couple of food growing tubes, but jeez those things eat up a lot of energy! I don't think one squash and one eggplant is going to cut it, either.